Chicks at Nine Weeks– Princess Puny Grows!

Princess Puny is not so puny anymore. Her growth and strength have surprised, and proven once again that we only think we know what is down the road. We never really do know, and only by hoping for the best, making a try for it, can we get anywhere near it. I still recall observing Princess Puny’s withered looking foot when I separated her into a small cardboard box. I, melancholy that I tend to be, was certain she would die in the night. I was certain I would find her dead all those weeks she seemed weak and to spend most of her time sitting. I then became convinced she might never roost– once again I am proven wrong. We have–ta-da–even caught her roosting in the henhouse, on the second perch!

Princess Puny on the left, Big Sister right. not quite the size of Big Sister, but she is most definitely growing and getting all of her feathers. I'm going to have to learn how to put bands on these girls' legs so I can identify them.She reminds me of the famous Sir Winston Churchhill quote: "Never Give in, never give in, never, never, never..." I shortly may have to change her name.

My dear husband spent a couple of mornings happy as a dog with two tails building his version of a feeder he found on the web. Simple plumbing pipe.

Feeder made with sewer pipe and pipe caps. Dear Husband made a number of them, a small one for oyster shell, too.

An update on the cage, too–
We are grateful to Bryan Edmonds in our Mobile Bay Backyard Chickens Club for showing us his design of a cage with no bottom. Used as a brooder, we put it on a tarp, layered the bottom with a bit of sand and wood shavings. To clean, we removed the chicks to a box, lifted the cage and hauled the tarp out as a bag to throw the dirty litter into the compost pile.

Now the chicks are in the chicken house with a run. We use the no-bottom cage as on occasion as a temporary lawn cage, to let the chicks scratch in the grass, until they are large enough to be safe from the cats for a bit of free-ranging.

The no-bottom cage protects young pullets on the lawn.

My thanks to all the input and encouragement from so many of you. I’m looking ahead to our first egg!

Thank you, Maggie! I love the song! It sticks in the mind and good for times one does need to ‘hold on’. Reminds me how often as a mother or grandmother, I’ve called out to a child’s cry, “Hold on, I’m comin’!” And isn’t it a lovely sounding word? I love words.